[breharb25]

Call me old-fashioned, but I have never seen the need for credit cards. Yes, I understand that it allows you to make big purchases if you dont have the cash on hand, but why would you want to buy something if you cant afford to pay for it yourself? Then theres the finance charges which will get you every time. So, what is Americas facination with credit cards, as far as I can tell they are the root of most bankruptcys. Do you think America will ever wisen up and give up abusing the plastic or is it already too late?

[babydawn]

I sure hope so. My husband and I made some bad choices with credit cards right after we got married and vowed, when we dug ourselfs out that we would never own another credit card. It has to be the root of all bankruptcys. I think that there are financially savvy people who use credit cards and pay them off at the end of every month (my parents), but I think that those people are few and far between. If we would all just live with in our means, and not try to purchase things that we really can't afford, then I think society in a whole would improve.

[MrsBrown810]

Ah, credit cards, IMHO, are EVIL! We have quite a lot of debt from them...we needed them to get our way through college. We cannot, in good judgement, move on with our adoption until they are mostly paid off. We're working on that VERY hard now. I am teaching, teaching after school program, making jewelry and selling it. Jason is working overtime and making woodcrafts and selling them. It'd be so much easier if we never had these dang credit cards.

[mcmama]

Credit cards are a good thing to have - the key is to use them wisely. I am a Realtor, and I find that the people who have the easiest time renting an apartment or obtaining a mortgage are the people who pay off their credit cards each month, pay all their bills on time, and establish in a measureable way that they have good financial habits. People like that are often careful with their purchases in general. Often they don't use credit cards except for emergencies. They use debit cards which work like mastercard and visa but debit your checking account immediately.
Did you know that you can sometimes get the credit card companies to reduce your interest rate? I called mine and got my interest rates reduced, saying that I was going to transfer the balance to another card. They dropped the rate to match the lowest card I had Try it! They want to keep you paying them, and using them, at any interest rate. Many times they will work with you to help you manage and reduce your debt.

[Marymary]

Credit cards teach discipline and responsibility. They are not devil, that's people who owns them misuse it. Whoever had trouble with CC in the past has to asknowledge their own fault, cards were just mere tools in unskilled hands.

[JMBisBack]

I've had credit cards in the past but they were of no use to me before the advent of cashback. I use credit cards now just to get cashback from purchases I would have used cash/debit cards for. The key to use them, however, if pay off the balance every month so no debts are accumulated.

[kcstrawn]

I can't wait to pay mine off... I promised myself this time, when I dig myself out of this hole I'm going to swear off the use of credit cards for good. The APR rate is outrageous and I just can't rationalize using a credit card anymore.

[provigal_fam]

If you want to reserve a hotel or motel room anymore you almost have to have a major credit card.

[Brownie]

Originally Posted by provigal_fam

If you want to reserve a hotel or motel room anymore you almost have to have a major credit card.

True, and that's why we have one credit card. Some things can only be gotten over the telephone, or with a credit card as security (such as a rental car), so to us they're a necessary evil.

And I must admit I like having it when I go to the supermarket... if something I need to get is on mega-sale, and I've only brought enough cash for essentials, I can switch to the card and stock up on the sale items to save money. But we pay it off within the week.

[berlinsmommy]

Credit cards are far from evil, by calling them evil, I think you are blaming them for something that is really your fault. If you don't have the discipline to use them wisely, you shouldn't have them. Are coupons evil because they make us buy items we normally wouldn't purchase? Are rebates evil because many people don't fill them out and turn them in? There are people who don't even have enough discipline to pay their bills before gambling or drinking their money away, are they to blame, or is their employer for turning them loose with a whole weeks pay at once?

Just like coupons and rebates, credit cards can be a very useful and effective tool to save money. When I graduated from college, DH and I moved into a house and needed a washer and dryer ASAP. We would have been throwing money away if we had gone to the laundramat and spent $2 or more per load to do laundry while saving up for a washer and dryer. Instead we bought a brand new, Consumer Reports Best Buy set of Maytags and got 0% interest for 12 months. We paid them off before the 0% offer expired, so we didn't pay a penny in interest on them. That was 11 years ago and we still have them, and they are in great shape, we have no plans to replace them any time soon. Thats an example of using credit cards to your advantage and saving money by using them. I could go on and on about things like that we use credit cards for. With the exception of 0% offers, we pay our credit cards in full every month. I couldn't even tell you what interest rates any of my cards have, I never pay interest.

We have done quite well choosing rewards credit cards. For example, right now our main card is the Citi Diamond Rewards card, which gives 1% back on standard purchases and 5% on gas, grocery, and drugstore purchases. We found a way to max out the 5% whenever possible. Both 7 Eleven and Albertson's (gas and grocery) sell gift cards to other stores, for example, when we bought our over the range microwave (on sale for $109 at Home Depot, I had a 10% off coupon, and it had a $20 rebate), so I got an extra $5 by using my credit card at a grocery store to buy a gift card. We recently got two clearanced beds at Macy's (ours was a king size regularly around $3k, we got it for $800!) and we got $100 off each bed plus 6 months free financing for getting Macy's cards (DH and I each got one). We also used our Discover Card to pay my school tuition one semester because they had a 10% rebate on tuition!!! I had the money saved up and paid off the Discover Card as soon as the bill came, but 10% back on $1,300 is certainly worth charging it! I'd better stop now because I could go on and on about ways we have made money or saved significant amounts by using credit cards.